Chamois

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Ζemer , from Zaamar to leap. Allowed as clean food ( Deuteronomy 14:5). The giraffe according to Gosse, (from the Arabic version and the Septuagint). The objection is, the giraffe is not a native of Palestine; but it is of Nubia, and may have been of the Arabian peninsula at the Exodus. Clearly it is not the chamois found only on high peaks of the Alps, auras, and Caucasus. It may be some other species of antelope. Colossians Smith suggests the aoudad mountain sheep. The Syriac has "the mountain goat."

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Chamois ( zemer ,   Deuteronomy 14:5 ). The tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of zemer as ‘chamois’ in EV [Note: English Version.] and as ‘camelopard,’ i.e. giraffe, in LXX [Note: Septuagint.] , are both certainly incorrect, as neither of these animals occurs in Palestine. Tristram suggests the wild sheep, Ovis tragelaphus , an animal about 3 feet high with long curved horns. It is well known to the Bedouln.

E. W. G. Masterman.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): (n.) A small species of antelope (Rupicapra tragus), living on the loftiest mountain ridges of Europe, as the Alps, Pyrenees, etc. It possesses remarkable agility, and is a favorite object of chase.

(2): (n.) A soft leather made from the skin of the chamois, or from sheepskin, etc.; - called also chamois leather, and chammy or shammy leather. See Shammy.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

The Hebrew word is zemer,  Deuteronomy 14:5 , which is held to signify 'leaper,' and would thus suit the chamois; but this animal is unknown in Palestine and is supposed never to have existed there. It has been suggested that the animal specified is the aoudad, the mountain sheep; others judge the wild goat to be referred to.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Chamois. (Often pronounced 'shame'). The translation of the Hebrew, zemer , in  Deuteronomy 14:5. But the translation is incorrect; for there is no evidence that the chamois have ever been seen in Palestine or the Lebanon. It is probable that some mountain sheep is intended.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

Not the well-known mountain goat of southern Europe, but probably a variety of wild sheep, resembling a goat, and still found in Arabia Petraea,  Deuteronomy 14:5 .

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Chamois ( Sham'My ).  Deuteronomy 14:5. A species of wild sheep.

Holman Bible Dictionary

rupicapra  Deuteronomy 14:5Animals

King James Dictionary

CHAMOIS, n. An animal of the goat kind, whose skin is made into soft leather, called shammy. It is now arranged with the Antelopes.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Deuteronomy 14:5

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Chamois (). Some suppose that the animal meant is the Camelopard, others the Elk. But it is plain that the Mosaic enumeration of clean animals would not include such as were totally out of the reach of the Hebrew people, and at best only known to them from specimens seen in Egypt, consisting of presents sent from Nubia, or in pictures on the walls of temples. The Camelopard or Giraffe is exclusively an inhabitant of Southern Africa, and therefore could not come in the way of the people of Israel. The same objection applies to the Elk, because that species of deer never appears further to the south than Northern Germany and Poland; and with regard to the Chamois, which has been adopted in our version, though it did exist in the mountains of Greece, and is still found in Central Asia, there is no vestige of its having at any time frequented Libanus or any other part of Syria. We may, therefore, with more propriety refer to the ruminants indigenous in the regions which were in the contemplation of the sacred legislator, and the only species that seems to answer to the conditions required is a wild sheep, still not uncommon in the Mokattam rocks near Cairo, found in Sinai, and eastward in the broken ridges of Stony Arabia, where it is known under the name of Kebsch.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

sham´i , sha - mwa ´, sha - moi ´ (זמר , zemer  ; καμηλοπάρδαλις , kamēlopárdalis ): Occurs only once in the Bible, i.e. in the list of clean animals in  Deuteronomy 14:5 . Gesenius refers to the verb zāmar , "to sing," and suggests the association of dancing or leaping, indicating thereby an active animal. M'Lean in Encyclopedia Biblica cites the rendering of the Targums dı̄ṣa' , or "wild goat." Now there are two wild goats in Palestine. The better known is the ibex of the South, which may well be the ya‛ēl (English Versions, "wild goat";  Job 39:1;  Psalm 104:18;  1 Samuel 24:2 ), as well as the 'aḳḳō (English Version, "wild goat,"  Deuteronomy 14:5 ). The other is the pasang or Persian wild goat which ranges from the Northeast of Palestine and the Syrian desert to Persia, and which may be the zemer (English Versions "chamois"). The accompanying illustration, which is taken from the Royal Natural History , shows the male and female and young. The male is distinguished by its larger horns and goatee. The horns are in size and curvature very similar to those of the ibex (see Goat , section 2) , but the front edge is like a nicked blade instead of being thick and knotty as in the ibex. Like the ibex it is at home among the rocks, and climbs apparently impossible cliffs with marvelous ease.

Tristram ( NHB ) who is followed by Post ( HDB ) suggests that zemer may be the Barbary sheep ( Ovis tragelaphus ), though the latter is only known to inhabit the Atlas Mountains, from the Atlantic to Tunis. Tristram supports his view by reference to a kebsh ("ram") which the Arabs say lives in the mountains of Sinai, though they have apparently neither horns nor skins to show as trophies, and it is admitted that no European has seen it. The true chamois ( Rupicapra tragus ) inhabits the high mountains from the Pyrenees to the Caucasus, and there is no reason to suppose that it was ever found in Syria or Palestine.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

Bibliography Information McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Chamois'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/c/chamois.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.